Summer in Winter
by The Arista
Summary: Sequel to SUSAN'S HEIR. Summer's older sister has been ... different since their great-grandmother died. And then the two of them end up in Narnia in the years before the Pevensies, and apparently their great-grandmother was Susan herself. Now they just need to dodge the White Witch and figure out why they're here now.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia, C.S. Lewis's Stepson does. All I own are the characters that Lewis didn't come up with. _

**Chapter 1**

**In the Library**

Summer couldn't wait until she had a license and her own car. She was fed up with having to beg rides off of her parents and older brother and sister, and she was especially fed up accompanying Petra to the library.

"I don't see why you can't just drop me off at the mall. It's not like it's _that _far out of the way," she pointed out.

"I'm low on gas, Summer," Petra contradicted, as they pulled into the library parking lot. "Unless you are prepared to help me pay for it, I can't go anywhere out of the way. I get paid on Monday, we'll talk then." She pulled into the employee section, turned off the car, grabbed her purse and the book satchel she took pretty much everywhere, and got out of the car.

Summer rolled her eyes and got out after her. "I wish you worked at the mall, then it would be convenient."

"Oh, it would be for you, wouldn't it?" said Petra. "But I consider myself lucky to have the job I have."

"You would."

Petra worked in the children's section of their local library, which was the perfect place for her, between her insistence of always having her nose in a book, and how simply childlike she could act.

"Besides," Petra continued. "I was hoping to show you the new display that Stacy and I set up yesterday for the holiday season."

"Let me guess … Narnia themed?"

Petra laughed, which meant that Summer had guessed correctly. "You know me too well, sis."

Summer rolled her eyes. Her sister's obsession with Narnia was sad, that was the long and short of it. Every since their great-grandmother had died the year before, Petra had been carrying that book bag, which contained a complete set of what was apparently original edition copies of the entire set, with her everywhere. Personally, Summer thought that the collection ought to be in a museum or somewhere else where rare books were stored, though she never brought that up.

She'd never seen the insides of the books, though Petra could often be found with her nose in them. Her sister was _very _protective of them, never let anyone besides her even touch them. But the crazy thing was, Petra _didn't _like the movies, any version of them, though she never could give an exact reason why.

"You need to find a new hobby."

"I did pick up knitting this fall," Petra commented, pulling open the library door. "Wonderfully relaxing."

"That is not what I meant."

While Petra disappeared behind a staff-only door to do whatever it was you did behind staff-only doors, Summer wandered over to the children's section, where she found the display Petra was talking about. The reading corner was spread with that fake, fleecy snow, the reading chair draped with golden cloth, and in the corner stood a tall, cardboard wardrobe. Glancing inside, Summer found that it contained a empty plastic case.

"That's for the books."

Summer turned to see Petra standing behind her, the purse having been ditched, though she still had the satchel.

"Those books?"

Petra nodded, a grin quirking one side of her mouth as she stepped into the wardrobe, which didn't have a real floor. "You've been telling me that I ought to donate them to a museum or something, and thought that this might be the next-best thing."

And with that, Petra pulled a key from around her neck, unlocked the case, and began arranging the books inside.

"They don't have Lewis' name on them," Summer observed.

"No," Petra agree, pulling three more books out of her bag, frowning, and putting one of them back. "Not this set. They belonged to great-grandmother, not him."

"Right…" said Summer, deciding that Petra didn't make any sense and wondering when her friends would get here. "And why did you put one of the books back?"

"Because people don't know that one," Petra explained. "It's new."

"New? How can there be a new Narnia book? Lewis died years ago, if I remember right." Summer stepped into the wardrobe with Petra to get a closer look.

Petra didn't answer, merely set the last of the books on the shelf, made sure they were all in order, and shut the case again, pulling out the key to lock it.

Summer felt a cold breeze at her back. Her first thought was that the air condition had popped on, but it was colder than that. She turned around and let out a gasp.

"Oh, my," said Petra, from beside her.

The library was gone. The fake snow was real. And there were evergreen trees stretching forward as far as Summer could see.

**Author's Note: This is, at long last, the sequel to my first story, _Susan's Heir. _I honestly did not mean for it to get back to this, but life happened, and I published a few of my original works, and quite forgot about this. But now you have it, and enjoy!**


End file.
